Australia-Wild dogs killing sheep.

AUSTRALIA-DOGS DAMAGING SHEEP.

WILD dogs are heading further into agriculture regions with sheep attacked and killed at Burracoppin last week.

In what has been described as a massacre, a mob of rams on the property of Merino studbreeders Brian, Chris and Dan Barnett, Seven Oaks North stud, were attacked with 20 rams killed and others maimed.

Chris Barnett said they believed the attack may have occurred on Thursday or Friday night, when they were away in Perth.

"We had the rams in the paddock near our house so if we had been home, we probably would have heard or seen something," Mr Barnett said.

"There were six rams that had been attacked but were still alive so we took them back to the shed, but they later died."

The rams were in a mob of about 220 head, the remainder of which have since been moved for fear of a repeat attack.

The rams that were mauled suffered bites to their front legs, faces, backs and sides.

Local dogger Dale Vernon, who is based at Yelbeni, visited the Barnetts on Tuesday to inspect the damage, look for tracks and try to determine whether the attack was from wild dogs or domestic dogs.

Mr Vernon said it appeared that two young wild dogs may be responsible for the attack, especially given the paddock in question was bordered by bush and rock on one side.

He said wild dogs travelled through bush whereas domestic dogs would avoid bush, sometimes travelling up to 12km out of their way to avoid it.

"It’s likely to be a pair of juvenile dogs because they were not efficient killers," Mr Vernon said.